


keepsake

by PyjamaEnzel



Series: Imry & Akiv'a [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23197528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PyjamaEnzel/pseuds/PyjamaEnzel
Summary: Two strangers at the end of the world, and the things they carry with them.Spoilers for 5.0/Shadowbringers MSQ and the Twinning. (implied)
Series: Imry & Akiv'a [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687711
Kudos: 3





	keepsake

**Author's Note:**

> Something short bc I have a fascination w/ the dead-end timeline. 
> 
> Imry & Akiv'a WoL verse. Akiv'a definitely flirted shamelessly back at G'raha but they were both too stupid to figure out that the feelings were mutual...
> 
> I wrote this before the 2020 White Day dev post but it fits.

He’d expected the landscape to have changed when he finally awoke, but not like this.

The air was clear of the smoky haze that used to creep over Mor Dhona sometimes, emissions from the plethora of overaspected crystals in the area. The sky was sharp and blue, the spire of the tower even bluer against it. He sat on a hill gazing across at it, something small cradled in his hands.

Footsteps approached from behind, and the sound of someone scaling the rocky face with relative ease. Aside from turning an ear to listen, he didn’t acknowledge it. 

With a grunt and a sigh, the person behind him clambered to their feet, dusting themselves off.

“So this is where you got off to.” The voice was lively and faintly accented–Othardian of some kind, perhaps. He remembered it, turned his head slightly. A tall Viera in Ironworks blue, her short, pale hair more tousled than it had been when they met previously. 

“Taranis, was it?” he asked.

“The one and only!” She placed her hands on her hips. “The chief was looking for ya.”

He looked back at the tower.

“Tell him…I’ll return shortly.”

Rock crunched beneath her boots–she sat a few yalms away, to his right. Internally, he sighed. 

“You went back to the tower and did some digging, right?” She was looking at him, her chin in one long-fingered hand, dark eyes sharp despite the smile on her face. “Find anything good?”

He bristled a bit despite himself. Perhaps once he would have liked to play along, but right now–he couldn’t find it in him. 

“Nothing useful,” he said, and closed his fingers around the object he was holding.

“So what’s that?”

His tail lashed against the rock he was sitting on. She was very…nosy.

“Something a friend left for me.” Reluctantly, he opened his hand and held it up to satisfy her curiosity. A pendant on a braided cord, the once-bright metal of the delicately crafted crescent shape now dull, though the smooth gem set into it still glittered a myriad of colors in the sunlight. Opal, perhaps. The cord was yellowed with age but seemed strong, still. 

She tilted her head. “Left for you? I’m impressed no one made off with it.”

“It seems like he anticipated that.” It had been hidden in a box behind a glamour–one looters might easily bypass but a trained eye could spot.

“So it’s a keepsake, then.”

“Yes…exactly. It won’t help with your research, I’m afraid. Purely decorative.” 

“Some people pay handsomely for Seventh Astral relics, you know.”

G’raha looked at her sharply. She laughed. 

“I’m kidding. I’ve got one too. We’re just sentimental creatures. But don’t say it’s not useful.” 

She tapped a finger against the pendant she wore, and he looked closer: it was a large teardrop shape of tarnished metal. Nothing valuable, that’s for certain. The wider end held a glass lens of some kind, perhaps a simple magnifier. There were letters inscribed in it, but they were too small for even his eye to make out.

“What does it do?” Looks could be deceiving, after all.

Taranis’ expression turned serious.

“It makes small things look bigger,” she said, completely deadpan.

He scowled at her a little. She laughed again.

“It makes me feel better,” she said then, and fell silent. He looked away, ears flat. 

They sat in silence, two strangers at the end of the world. But he understood.


End file.
